You want to know about Dana Hunter, then, do you? I'm a science blogger, SF writer, compleat geology addict, Gnu Atheist, and owner of a - excuse me, owned by a homicidal felid. I loves me some Doctor Who and Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Sums me up. I'm a Midwest-born Southwesterner transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, which should explain some personality quirks, the tendency to sprinkle Spanish around, and why I'll subject you to some real jawbreakers in the place names department. My cobloggers, Karen Locke, Jacob and Steamforged, and I are delighted to be your cantineras y cantinero. Join us for una tequila. And feel free to follow @dhunterauthor on Twitter. Salud!

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EVENTS

Canada Kicks Self-Righteous Ass

The Westboro Baptist Church, apparently bored with picketing American servicemembers’ funerals, decided to head north for a Canadian jaunt. One of the planned stops on their grand tour was the funeral of Tim McLean, the victim of a horrific attack that left him beheaded on a bus.

According to the raving fuckwits of the WBC, McLean was murdered because God’s pissed at Canada for allowing gays and abortion. How the murder of a straight man by a mentally ill man sends God’s message was left unexplained. Most lunatics I know can come up with at least a pseudo-rational explanation for their beliefs and behavior, but members of this “church” are no ordinary nutcases.

Perhaps if they’d been just a tad saner, they would have realized that what they regularly get away with in the U.S. is a fuck of a lot less welcome in Canada.

A counter-protest against the church’s picket plans was launched on the social networking site Facebook on Thursday.

More than 700 people have since joined the group; postings indicate they plan to form a “human wall” around the family to shield them from the church protest, if it takes place.

Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said the group should be “sent packing,” and should not try to show up in Winnipeg “for their own safety.”

“We’re not going to allow these people to compound the tragedy of the McLean family loss, and Canadians simply won’t tolerate these lunatics disrupting what should be a respectful service,” he told CBC News on Friday.

When the day came, border guards turned back one group of frothing fundies, and the handful who slipped through faced a cordon of outraged Canucks. Having God on their side apparently wasn’t enough for the WBC crusaders. They slunk away into the shadows, leaving counter-protesters with little to do.

Kimberly Lemay handed leaflets throughout the crowd, which began forming 21/2 hours before the 4 p.m. service, to urge those on hand to remain calm should Westboro members arrive.

She suggested the U.S. group wouldn’t have had a chance to protest outside the funeral.

“We’ve got the whole place covered,” said Lemay. “Winnipeg and Canada won. Canada is too tough for them.”

You bet it is. Good on yer, Canada.

And that, my darlings, is how you handle the appalling antics of a bunch of crazed fanatics. We don’t even need laws to shut down fucktards like this. All we need is a cordon of good people, sheltering the grieving and standing up for common human decency.

Ah, the Phelps clan.I joined a counter-protest when they came to Ft. Collins, CO a few years ago to celebrate the death of Matthew Shepard. There were two cordoned areas for the protesters (of equal size), and the Ft. Collins residents overflowed… Since there wasn’t room for most of us, I (and many others) took up position on the public sidewalk directly across from Phelps and his kin.Then I got to enjoy pointing out how he too must be gay since he had a rainbow flag of his own. We invited him to join us, but I guess he didn’t hear…:)What I wonder is, where do they get their money from to do all this travelling? They don’t seem to actually *do* anything (you know, like have jobs…).ex animo-Eric